ZX Appeal

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MEETING MINUTES... 2 43
MEMBER PROFILES.. 445
PREZ SEZ v6 . 5
ZX B CONNECTOR... G
ADVERTISEMT...- 7
FLOWCHKETS..... 6

ZXAppeal is a monthly
newsletter put out by the
Vancouver Sinclair Users Group.

°
For more information on the
group and ZXAppeal see the backcover. /
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N

MINUTES OCT 14/86

-by your HUMBLE scribe

The meeting opened at 19:20 in the
boardroom (- 3 times & counting) with 15
hardy souls present. A couple of others came
in half an hour into things. Gerd started off by
mentioning he had obtained a fix to the 5"
monitor retrace problem he had. Not many
people have one of these monitors, but he has
the details if you need them. Apparently the
main problem is a poorly designed sync
separator board.

Glenn Read mentioned that as our next
meeting fell on Friday, November the 11th,
Remembrance Day, the community club would
be closed & a different meeting day would
have to be found. It was decided that we
would prefer the 18th and before the meeting
was over the time was verified. Next meeting
- Friday November 16th, at the same place.

Glenn then spoke of several upcoming
computer/electronics shows [Consumer's
Computer Show and the Computer &
Communication Show] which will be over by
the time you read this. Mr. Read then
displayed the modem from the upgrade at his
work. These are 1200-baud only, no autodial,
industrial-type, modems with a power supply
and telephone line. If you are interested in
one of these call Glenn at his work [682-8455].

At some point in the discussion of the pros
and cons of these modems it was pointed out
that there is no software for these modems.
Harvey foolishly volunteered to write drivers
for them. (Yaahhh Harvey. What a guy,... Ed)
Glenn tells us that he has moved to Squamish.
We found ourselves contemplating commuting
daily through pelting rain on that treacherous
highway.

Rod tells us that he has now about
CAN$965.00 in ye olde credit union. There
was mention from the floor that we need to
consider worthwhile suggestions/projects with

this cash.

Then Rod switched hats & did his Editor's
report. He has received another unsolicited
offer of assistance with the large NVM project,
this time from Gerry Desmerais. Rod has
passed the letter on to the hardware group
and they will answer. Rod also received a
letter from Tim Ward of Vista. He is collecting
material for a 1000 & 2068 public domain
library.

At this point Hilda piped up with thanks
directed to those who write articles,
particularly Harvey and Vince L. It seems the
lady has become interested in logic gates and
is busy learning the ins & out of TTL. She was
duly warned of the addicting nature of such
pastimes.

Harvey then stood to mention a letter he
received from Tim Woods asking why
relatively few Sinclairites are into BBS-ing?
Harvey left the question open on the floor and
read some NeXt propaganda he had
downloaded from MindLink. The best line of
which was ` ‘Black magnesium cube. Why
didn't Jobs choose a pyramid! There were
several! different answers to Tim's question
offered. First was the matter of technical
intimidation [which is a straw-man quickly
vanquished] Then came the assertion that
BBS-ing was a grossly inefficient method of
communication. Someone mentioned they
thought the problems associated with getting
access were a bit too much to bear. Others had
basically nothing to say. [Have you considered
politics?] Rod extolled the virtues of Electronic
Mail and how it simplified some of his
communications. Harvey pointed out that
Telecomm was a good way to discover a
like-minded community.

Harvey discusssed the SCSI project he is
involved in and mentioned he was doing this
via E-mail with a fellow from California. Rod
asked Harvey what the ETA was and Harvey
said one year.

At some point in here, Rod told the
fascinating story of Samsung holding back
1000 U.S.-style QL's in case Sinclair couldn't

meet their payments, which they couldnt. It
seems that the A« Computer Response people
managed to get these 1000 QL' and after
selling some of them, the rest went to Sharp's.
A+ is now out of the game for good.

The hardware group reports that Wilf is
away -hosting relatives from Holland.
Construction continues on Harry's house.

Kevin Kerney, the paper librarian, has a job
selling between Toronto and Vancouver so he
will very likely be dropping out. Bill Rutter,
the 2068 librarian, says nothing much new.

Ken Grant tells us that his BC Rail power
supply can put out 1 KiloWatt. It is so heavy
he can hardly lift it. Several around the table
wondered about PCBs. Rod mentioned there
are PCBs in some ballasts for fluorescent

` lights.

Jim Horne, the 1000 librarian, has a wee
problem. When Fred Nachbaur went East he
gave Jim a box of tapes consisting of some 460
odd programs; a mixture of company [Silicon
Mountain] shareware, commercial & public
domain tapes. Jim needs help with this
morass. Look for a seperate article from him
in these
pages.

Jim then launched into a description of
Greg Harder’s ZX-PAINT, a hi-res drawing
program. Jim was going to demo the program,
but he had a hardware problem with a
stripped down portable system and had to
make do with passing around some screen
dumps. It is a `very impressive-looking piece
of work. There were a series of answers and
questions re: ZX-PAINT. The program requires
32K + 8K static to run.

Ken Abramson, a teacher by trade, and
past prez by fate, stood to tell us of the
Sullivan Royal Commission on Education in
British Columbia. Ken is, to put it mildly,
perturbed. The report, in his opinion, shows
“very grave ommissions”. There is, for
example, no mention of computers in
education. It was opined by Ken Grant,
another teach, that this was a result of the
fear that computers were “going to cost money

and you're going to get stuck with them.” The
student-to-computer ratio in BC schools is
presently 40:1 There was also no mention at
all of the very grave ‘English as a Second
Language’ problem in BC.

Hilda mentioned one of the problems with
computers in the schools was the lack of good
educational software. Ken Grant has some
British educational software he is going to
demonstrate next month.

Gerd had a videotape with him from the
‘87 Seattle Fest which he had not looked at. He
mentioned something about beer and videos
at his place! Times to be arranged.

At this point the meeting slowly evolved
into a roundtable discussion which ranged
over a wide variety of topics. Glenn Read
mentioned the Time/Life article on Viruses.
There was talk of RISC processors which
afforded Glenn the great line “Lies, Damned
Lies & Benchmarks”. There was a lot of
discussion on the Japanese influence in things
electronic. Rod was of the view that killer
software & computers is “the only thing the
Americans can do now". Harvey argued that
Rod's feeling was a function of exposure.
There was a great deal of talk about tariffs
and chip prices. Somebody mentioned that
The Brick, a furniture chain, is selling an
Amstrad word processing setup, as is CostCo
Can$1100.

The meeting dissolved into animated
discussion - a splendid time indeed.

Memb=ershie Fro files
Jim Horre: Dedicated ZX Fanatic.

I spend about 12-16 hours a day hacking away on this little
black box doins who knows what.It could be anything from working
on my new rom to making tapes for customers,or trying to
straighten out the clubs library.I'm tranzferina the library over
to disc so that I can allow access to the library via downloads
all month long. Hopefully this will encourage people to dig out
those 2050's and learn how to use them if you need help getting
the hana of thinas or you reed a modem or software then Sive me a
Call and we can arrange to get together at your convience.I guess
to aet an idea of what I'm up to with this machine I will give you
a rundown of my system at as it sits at present:

1)24 81 in a Suntronics keyboard case with M1 and NMI adaptors

Z)Memotech 64k memory pack

3) 32k Nvm (DELTA DEVICE)

4) Karl Brown I/O port driving a Brother HRS 26 col.printer

5) Westridge 2050 modem

6)Aerco drive interface with 4 drives;2 full height 5.25 inch DS

DD drives,1 half height DS DD 5.25 drive and one 3.5 inch 360k
drive.At the present time I'm only runnina 2 drives the other 2
are just waitina for a good excuse to be plugged in.

7) JIL composite green monitor

S) TI color video board and rom board for the extended
basic (JOBASIC) to transparently drive the color video

That was only a partial list of my hardware. I've got plenty
of other Hardware as well.such as eprom burners, 2046 Printer, JIL
compu deck, 256k bank switch, speech board, Scram board,RS232
interface,rom selector boards and more. that should aive you an
idea of just how much of a ZX freak I am.

I use my system for many varied uses,but lately it's main use
has been for word Procezzina.I,ve been extremely buzy tryina to
keep up with INSOMNIAC ELECTRONICS business corespondence.Ever
Since I took over SILICON MOUNTAIN from Fred Nauchbaur,I,ve had to
Put all my personal projects aside (well most of them anyway) . As
alot of you may already know I ve been working on hires screen
dumps to my 80 col. printer and thats one project finaly out of my
hair.I have also been workina on a new extension rom (probably
another Sk) -It will contain my S6 col. printer and disc drive
commands as well as hires extended basic. all commands can be
accsesed from 46 new basic keywords. It? 11 be awhile till I get it
ready for use by the public.My next major project will be a 1200
baud hard/software Package for the 2481/TS1000. Harvey Taylor is
writing the software driver core and then I will install it into
ZX*TERM SO as soon as Fossible'! I could ao on and on but this
Profile starting to get lengthy so I think I? 11 sign off for
now. If anyone has any questions feel free to call me at 438-5739
anytime

F.S. if anyone has any suggestions for ZX81/TS1000 hardware
articles then let me know and 171] see if I can aet a regular
month!y hardware column going!

JIM HORNE

Message from your pres.:

Dear members and friends , m”

You can stop blaming the postal service 5 "T"
for nof receiving your Nov. '88 Newsleter- BED. 一 $2 F
there wasn't any. The minutes of the Oct.'88 n pur: A
meeting are in this (issue, the minutes of the ats $ 7 Éa
Nov. '88 meeting will be in the next issue - zB E 3
please accept my apologies, Harvey, -/ can pa 4 +

explain... at Oe m
Our Editor, Rod, is presently enjoying West s; nuie | L amr
Coast Summer Weather-in Australia. lam eset E ee
trying to help by getting at least some thing tsas MM ranpatk asy ui^ pde
out to you. Rod 15 planning a large issue imis t am Pn

for the New Yeor .so keep those contributions ces m:

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coming! It is afterall your club and news- at-a4 < = Bi t8 02 are 10244
letter m 32K NUM he L1
Has any one out there heord whats happe- I
ning fo ° SYNC WARE NEWS" 2 - Mas/ un e wn by Jim Horne
‘88 /s my last 1$sUe. 5 ,

/ wish you ell the very Best for the up- UST G ke X = fed rod =e I
coming festive Season. f^'ogram Us ng Milf higters
Gerd Preununo WEX/E OQ HICH RES. CORE

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ZX-PAINT `
*4 Text Font s EMT Ë *Fill*
*Move Sections* E *Freehand*
wise | e
*Fast Save* E *Lines*
*User Fonts* E *2040Copy*
*Video Reverse — Ghorm *Swap*
*Magnify* aa ee sj *Rectangles*
*Pattern Palette* *And Much More*

Gregory C. Harder has done it again! This time with ZX-PAINT. Greg's latest
contribution to the SRAM HiRES ily of fine software is a full featured
graphics-design program for the ZX81 or T/S 1000/1500. A minimum of 32K RAM
plus either a SCRAM Board, Delta Device (32K NVM) or a modified Hunter Board is
also . There are several other static RAM boards that will support SRAM
HiRES as they are or with just a minor modification. If you aren't sure about your
particular board, send me a schematic and I'll let you know if it's compatible or what
modifications to make. If soldering is not your cap of tea, send me your board and
schematics ( don't worry if you don't have a schematic - I'll figure it out) and I'll make
the necessary modifications free of charge with the purchase of any SRAM HiRES
program. ZX-PAINT, complete with a full-size 12 page manual ....................... $24.95
MORE SRAM HiRES SOFTWARE
SRAM HiRES EXTENDED BASIC V3: allows ing HiRes applications
ENTIRELY in BASIE cm T em $24.95
ZX* TERM*80 V2.5: a 40, 60, 80 column terminal program for the T/S 1000/1500
or ZXB1 and either the Westridge 2050 or the ByteBack...$24.95
DUNGEON OF YMIR V30:a "Dungeons and Dragons"- games................... $19.95
BARGAIN PAK 1: Psion Chess U Blackjack Macro Life, Year at a Glance,
Mandelbzot-FPP...................... J l u. $17.5
BARGAIN PAK 2: Voyage of the Seawitch, Spirogr:m, Invaders, Block Bust.$17.6
BARGAIN PAK XHR Math Pak): SE-HR, Fourier, Julia-FFP............................... $14.95

Terms of Payment: All prices are in US funds and include first class ground shipping
in US and Canada. For eir shipping add $5.00. Canadian $ accepted at per from
Canadian customers shipping to Canadian address. Please make cheques and M.O.'s
payable directly to me, Jim Horne.

FOR CATALOG SEND $2.00, REFUNDABLE ON FIRST ORDER, TO:

INSOMNIAC ELECTRONICS
c/o Jim Horne
3-3050 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC., V5R 5]7
Canada
604-438-5739

PROBLEM
FLOWCHART
iraun by JIH HORDE

z»moo 0o-"—-o0»7

LA NS

The Vancouver Sinclair Users Group has been in existence since
UNIVERSAL INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS 1982. We are a support group for the owners and users of all

(insert into daybook) š SINCLAIR and TIMEX computers.

Pres:- Gerd Breunung PH#(604) 931-5509
V/Pres:- Glenn Read

Sec:- Harvey Taylor

Treas. & N/L Editor:- Rod Humphreys

by Ken Abramson

Our membership dues are only $15.00/year and may be sent to
the Treasurer:

Rod Humphreys
2006 Highview Place
Port Moody, B.C., V3H INS

Members of VSUG receive a monthly issue of ZXAppeal - our
newsletter.

ZXAppeal accepts advertising. Our **PREPAID** rates are:

$10.00 — full page
$8.00 — 1/2 page
$5.00 — 1/4 page

ZXAppeal is distributed to approx 30 other SINCLAIR User
Groups throughout North America as well as overseas via the

NETWORK. NETWORK correspondence may be directed to the
Editor at the above address.

Copyright of all articles appearing in ZXAppeal is retained by
the author with the understanding that other T/S User Groups

** Insert expletive appropriate to your teaching style: may reprint any article appearing in ZXAppeal provided credit
WEEP MUTTER PROF . SCREAM. THROW TANTRUM. 4
LAUGH HYSTERICALLY. SEND $.0.8.. ETC is given to the author and VSUG.

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